Avatar: The Second
by SherringFord
Summary: Avatar: The Second is an action-adventure fanon following the life of Avatar Wan's direct successor, the second Avatar. It depicts the struggle of a 17-year-old boy, carrying responsibilities no one ever did, as his quest to obtain balance eventually brings the separation of the world into four distinct nations.
1. Prologue - Homecoming

**Prologue - Homecoming**

Balance. So was deceased Avatar Wan's wish when he closed the portals leading to the spirits' realm. And so he thought he obtained. For quite some time, the humans, after leaving the protection of the lion turtles, settled peacefully into the wilds, recently freed from the spirits. Inhabitants of a former same lion turtle met people from other lion turtles, which eventually led to the foundation of villages and cities. Prosperity was everywhere and the usage of bending, all four bending, in everyday life brought a brand new way of living. Peace was obtained. But not for long. Soon, the question of leadership and superiority raised up. Groups were formed, and people with the same bending gathered. The fierce firebenders, the stubborn earthbenders and the elegant waterbenders clashed with each other, while the peaceful airbenders quietly retired into the high grounds of the mountains to avoid conflict. Despite all his efforts, Avatar Wan did not succeed to stop what would later be known as The Great Bending War, and eventually passed away, leaving the world in a state of chaos. However, his spirit reincarnated into a boy named Skaï, an Air Nomad, whose duty, after 17 years of training, is to bring an end to the war, and balance to the world.

* * *

Skaï was standing on top of the recently finished tower where he heard the monks planned to build a sanctuary to his effigy. His predecessor, Avatar Wan, was already placed down there, alone, in the darkness of the very top of the tower. The idea that he too, when the time comes, would eventually have a sculpture of himself stored away in this cold place, made him shudder.

It has been ten years since he left the monks and their little settlement, and he was amazed at how fast it developed and how beautiful it became. The now called Southern Air Temple gleamed in the sunshine, above the clouds, piercing the sky with its shiny blue spires striped in gold. Wherever Skaï looked, it was magnificent. Yet, wherever he looked, it was infuriating. For more than ten years, the monks hid away above the clouds, turning their backs on the world, unfazed by all the violence and the suffering that were happening underneath them. Being raised by them till the age of seven, he knew of how much they abhorred violence and conflict, but he still couldn't understand how they could peacefully take their time building temples when the world was in chaos.

"Wan."

Skaï had been so absorbed in his dark thought that he didn't felt the High Monk Chaanakya coming behind him, standing perfectly fine on the steep roof.

"Stop calling me that, Chaanakya. I am not Wan," answered Skaï without stopping to gaze at the horizon.

"Oh! But you are. You may have a different body, a different personality, but in your core, you still are the friend I loved. I can feel it."

"What you feel is my connection to Wan. He is a past life. I am a new life. We are one, but we are different."

Skaï turned around when he noticed the prolonged silence Chaanakya gave him instead of his usual teasing. In ten years, the old monk of now 90 years old didn't change a bit of how Skaï remembered him. His face was still covered in the same old wrinkles that the boy had seen the first seven years of his life. His frail mouth was drawing a faint smile, while his mid-closed gray eyes were looking at the child he raised with a great mix of joy, sadness and nostalgia.

"You've gained knowledge. And wisdom."

"Yet it is not enough. There is so much to learn, old man! Every time I understand something new about my duties, my responsibilities, I end up with more questions than answers. How am I supposed to bring balance as Wan's reincarnation if I don't know the very meaning of 'balance'? Benders and non-benders out there are killing each other for the sole reason of superiority and leadership. I may master the four elements, but I am only one man."

"You are too hard on yourself. You are only seventeen years old. Take your time to sit back, to take a break, and then look back at everything with hindsight. For example, you could start by relaxing those brows of yours and by hugging an old man who missed you during ten whole years."

"You're right," sighed Skaï, finally smiling at his old mentor. "I'm sorry. I missed you too."

The two of them shared a fatherly embrace while the sun started its way down behind the high pikes of the Patola Mountain Range, leaving a crimson filter of light to shine on the white stones of the newly founded Southern Air Temple.

* * *

"Are you leaving already?"

Skaï was loading supplies on Molly, his lion eagle, when Chaanakya came. It was still dark and the old monk visibly didn't slept since their long conversation where they tried to catch up with each other as much as it was possible after ten years apart.

"Yes. I was only delivering the message about the earthbenders. I can sit back and relax, but the world can't. I am tired of seeing burned villages, buried cities and flooded landscapes. I may only be seventeen years old, but I got Wan and Raava at my side. I will end this war no matter what."

While speaking, Skaï had already mounted on his beast friend and was now facing the sky, ready to depart.

Chaanakya quickly asked him, "Why would earthbenders climb the mountains? There is nothing of value here."

"Oh, there is," answered Skaï back. "Mountains are made of rocks, and they want all the earth they can gather to fight in the war. You've got three choices, Chaan. Negotiate, leave or fight. Knowing the stubbornness of earthbenders, you might not want to consider the first one too much. I'm sorry that I can't help you more."

"It's alright, my child, I know how important your duties are," replied Chaanakya.

Then, the old monk wondered, "Speaking of which, being Wan's successor, your mastery of the elements must be famous. What do they call you down there? The New Wan? Or maybe The Bending Master?" Chaanakya laughed while imagining people calling his pupil ridiculous names.

Skaï, with an apparent proud face answered. "Actually, someone called me something recently and I feel that it's going to last. You see, I'm Wan and Raava's new incarnation. The bridge between the physical and the spirit world. I'm a representative. An icon."

Skaï then gently clapped Molly on her flank, causing her to take off.

I am...

 _ **The Avatar.**_

 _To be continued_


	2. Chapter 1 - The Dragon Mask

Skaï was dozing off on Molly's back, flying at high speed through the mellow looking clouds, when he heard sounds of battle.

"Go down a bit, girl," he asked to his friend. "And slow down."

When they got close enough, Skaï saw a group of earthbenders fighting against one of firebenders. Judging from the fact that everyone on both sides were no older than him, he reckoned that it wasn't anything serious, but the violence they manifested made up his mind to stop the fight. He quickly analyzed the battlefield.

The firebenders seemed to follow orders from someone with a red and gold dragon mask covering his face, who stayed out of reach of the earthbenders. They were forming strict battle formations and fighting with obvious, but efficient strategy.

On the other side, the earthbenders were charging in with all their might, relentlessly attacking the firebenders, leaving little time to counterattack, and with no apparent strategy nor leadership. With this, and considering the higher ground possessed by the firebenders, it was clear that the earthbenders had been taken by surprise during an ambush. Moreover, the apparent lack of potential loot for the firebenders suggested that the motive of the fight was surely: a grudge.

"I'm going down there for a bit." After saying so to Molly, Skaï let himself fall off her, in direction of the battlefield.

During his fall, under him, the crowd had spotted him and had stopped the fight to try to figure out what was the thing coming down at high velocity towards them.

"It's a bird!" said an earthbender.

"It's a sky bison!" replied a firebender.

Getting closer to the ground, Skaï prepared his landing. Just before touching the earth, right in the middle of the battlefield, he used a combination of air and earth bending to send a huge earth-shattering shockwave that sent flying some and destabilized most.

The Avatar looked around him, searching for the man in the mask. Indeed, from his analyzing, he deducted that the best way to end the fight as quickly as possible would be to incapacitate the firebenders' leader. Their whole fighting strategy rested on him, which meant, it was very likely that they would retreat if the dragon mask happened to be disposed of. Of course, the earthbenders would go after them, but they were far less agile and quick on their feet. The firebenders would lose them in no time.

"Who are you?" asked a loud and hoarse voice, interrupting his high-paced thinking.

After finding the source of the voice, he first thought that it was the dragon mask who spoke, but another "Who are you," more insistent, indicated that it was actually a tall, very muscular and shirtless man standing right beside the slender mask bearer. However, he noticed that the big man was only repeating what the dragon mask whispered to him.

"I'm the Avatar and I'm here to end this fight!" answered Skaï in an equally loud voice, looking straight into the black holes representing the eyes of the dragon mask.

Skaï saw the firebenders' leader telling the muscular man what to say before he responded.

"What is 'the Avatar' and what business does an airbender have in this place?" answered the man in an intimidating voice.

 _I guess the name hasn't reached very far yet_ , thought Skaï.

"My name is Skaï, successor of Wan, master of the four elements, and I demand to speak to each of your leader to understand the meaning of this fight and bring an end to it!"

Impressing your opponents before hostilities even begun was a tactic known by all accomplished warrior. The demonstration he gave during his landing and the mention of Wan's name was the first steps of his plan to end this without any violence. He knew the earthbenders had no leader and would sent someone randomly if they agreed to what he asked, so the only threat remaining would be the dragon mask. Then, all he would need to do would be to convin-

" _Ow_!"

While Skaï was busy overthinking his plan and looking at the man in the mask, an earthbender had thrown a small boulder right into his stomach, sending him flying to the side of the battlefield. Both camp then proceeded to resume their fight, shouting battle cries, not caring in the slightest about the strange newcomer who was spouting nonsense a minute ago.

"What?" articulated Skaï between two gasps, confused and regaining his senses. "Who the hell are these people?"

Now convinced that he has no other choice, the still shaken Avatar decided to head directly for the dragon mask and to take him down.

After getting back up, Skaï used his airbending to propel himself high in the air toward the man, but a small group of five firebenders guarding their leader had seen him coming and had moved into position to intercept him in midair.

He expected them to throw waltzes of fire with their fists, but instead, they each inhaled a high quantity of air by their nose, then all exhaled it at the same time by their mouth, spiting a violent blast of fire in his direction.

"Dragons..." Skaï thought for himself.

Inspired, and still clinging to his plan to impress them, the Avatar quickly imitated their move, taking a deep breath, and spiting a blazing deflagration larger than the five firebenders' blasts together.

The fire out of the way, Skaï, still in midair, bent the earth to create two walls with only the dragon mask between them, and made them move away from earth other, driving the dumbfounded guards away with them, leaving only their leader remaining.

The threats disposed of, he landed softly right in front of the small man leading the battle.

"Surrender," said the Avatar in an imperious voice. "You saw what I can do."

The man before him was rather small, reaching about Skaï's chin, but his slender body looked athletic and used to fighting. He was wearing traditional red and gold martial art clothes, matching his mask and covering all of his body up to his hands.

Despite everything Skaï displayed, the short man did not even budge ever since the Avatar had started targeting him, and even now, face to face, he was still staring silently at him through his mask.

"If you want it that way..." gave up the Avatar. He was going to trap the man in the mask into an earth cage when he heard screaming.

"RETREAT!"

Skaï looked in direction of the battlefield and saw the earthbenders starting to back up, running away from the firebenders who were chasing them.

But when he looked back, the dragon mask was gone. Instead, the big man who spoke for him earlier was standing there, his big fist raised in the air. Before he could react, Skaï received a heavy punch right in the stomach... again.

While his mind was fading away, just before losing his consciousness, he heard a voice. "Call them back. We're going home. Bring our strange fellow with you."

It was dark when Skaï woke up. Trying to figure out his situation, he realized he was chained tight to a big tree, leaving space only for his head to move. When he looked around him, all there was more trees, but he could see dim lights in the distance and hear faded voices.

Unable to bend without moving his body, the Avatar looked for a way to free himself. The tree and the chain were way too big and tough to consider breaking them up with pure strength, so he inspected his surroundings.

The ground was covered in footprint of different sizes, which meant the people who captured him were sending people regularly to check on him. He would have to hurry. Around him, the darkness of the night was omnipresent, making his task a lot more complex. Up him, spring had made the trees' leaves extremely dense, blocking sky and moonlight together completely. Small motions, however, in this windless night, indicated that some sort of animal was up there. If he could only-

"Do you always do that?"

The Avatar thought his heart had stopped when the voice surprised him. It came from the obscurity between the trees, somewhere before him.

"I-I'm sorry? Who's there?" asked Skaï anxiously.

The voice owner moved forward, leaving the darkness to get closer, letting the prisoner see them. The person appearing before Skaï was a young girl with straight black hair loose on her shoulders. When she arrived in front of him, she took a big woodstick at her waist and lighted it with firebending. When she raised the torch, Skaï saw emotionless gold eyes staring at him. Her face showed a slightly tanned skin, caused by prolonged sun exposure, and her dominating position made her traits looked confident. Skaï noted that, if you ignored the dirt, she could be beautiful.

"Do you always do that?" she asked again.

"Do what? Who are you?" replied the prisoner.

"The... _thing_ you do with your eyes. Moving them like crazy, like you're inspecting and seeing everything everywhere. Well, _almost_ everything. That boulder should've hurt a lot."

"You were at the battlefield," noticed the boy, slightly hurt in his pride.

"Of course. You gave quite the demonstration. Who are you anyway?"

"I want to speak to the man with the dragon mask."

"There is no man with a dragon mask."

Skaï was staring silently at the girl, wondering why such an obvious lie, when he saw her red and gold clothes.

"It's you..." he said, dumbfounded.

"Took you some time. Now. I want answers. Who are you and how did you do... whatever you did? And you better start talking fast, 'cause fire is difficult to control."

While speaking she had progressively increased the torch's flame intensity, which was now so bright it blinded the restrained Avatar.

"I already explained all this!" said Skaï in an exasperated voice. "I'm the Avatar, I - more or less - master all four bending arts, and I do not seek trouble. Haven't you heard the legends?"

"Oh I heard them. They speak of a hundred-year-old sage, named The One, who freed the world from the spirit by driving them out of our world with the help of the four elements."

"So you have it. That's me."

"You do not exactly look like the hundred-years-old type, if you want my opinion," said the girl arrogantly.

"Well, not **me** exactly, but that's where my name come from. I'm that man's – and it's Wan by the way – Avatar. His reincarnation. I carry on his duty and will. And right now, I kind of have a war to stop, so if could unchain me, I would really appreciate it."

After a silence, "You realize you're not making any sense?"

"Absolutely. But I need you to believe me."

The young girl stared at him silently for a moment then answered: "Alright."

Skaï, who had been holding his breath, sighed of relief, but the girl added: "But I want something in return."

The eyes of the firebender became stern and determined as she looked straight at the Avatar.

"The earthbenders earlier today. You're powerful, help me bring them down," she asked.

"Why? Who are they?"

"They're called the 'Gold Eaters'. They're a group of bandits who raid villages to steal gold, and then just throw it away into a river or a lake. They do it for fun. Robbing innocent people of their hard-earned gold so that they can have of good laugh."

The young girl had been walking back and forth while speaking and her face was distorted by anger. Then she stopped and looked back at Skaï.

"But I'll be honest. My primary and true goal is to obtain an information they have about another group of their species. Help me get it, and we will each go our way to never meet again."

"Fine. I'll help you."

"Then we have a deal," said the girl while going to the back of the tree. A little later, the chain on Skaï's body loosened up and he could move again. She came back to his side and shook his hand.

"Welcome to the Dragon Fighters, Avatar. The name's Cielle, by the way."

 _To be continued_


	3. Chapter 2 - The Cliff

"We should be fine here," said Skaï.

"Are you sure your plan will work?" asked Cielle, panting after the long trek they had to do to reach the top of the cliff overlooking the Golden Eaters' camp.

"Not yet. I need to do some scanning first," answered the Avatar.

"Oh! So you mean we walked all this way not knowing if your plan was even possible?"

Ignoring Cielle's whining, Skaï crouched at the edge of the cliff and begun his observation of the bandits' settlement.

It has been a day since he made his deal with the firebending girl, and it was night once again. The area they were actually in was called the Arid Mountains and, as expected from its name, was empty of vegetation. Down there, three big campfires burned heavily, making the area quite clear to see. Skaï noticed that the camp was rather small, counting ten tents and six ostrich horses tied at its outskirt. A small creek nearby served as their water supply and could be used for waterbending in need of a fight, assuming his plan wouldn't go as expected. But what he truly cared about was the earthbenders themselves. At that time of the night, most of them were asleep, but as expected from any sort of group camping in the wilds, two watchmen were guarding the place. His plan could work.

"Alright," said Skaï, breaking out of his concentration. "Here's what we're going to do."

"Where did you learn to do that?" interrupted Cielle.

"What?" replied the Avatar, slightly annoyed.

"You know, coming up with a plan just by seeing the layout of your opponents' basecamp."

"I learned with practice," answered Skaï coldly. "Can we get back to subject now?"

Ignoring his last statement, "Practice? But you're not much older than me! Not only that, you're bending is amazing too. What sort of 'practice' did you have to go through so that you could get that strong?"

"Look, Cielle, it doesn't matter. Just know that when you've seen things... and done things that you don't want to ever happen again, you get stronger so that you can stop it yourself next time. Now, dawn will be here anytime soon, so if we're going to do this, it's **now**."

Realizing that he had spoken aggressively, Skaï closed his eyes and took discreet, slow breaths to calm himself.

"I'm sorry," the girl apologized, unsure of what to think about his speech. "Let's do this."

"Thank you. Back to the plan. First, we're not going to need the Dragon Fighters. They would attract more attention than we need. What we want is to lure one of the watchmen here, so that we can interrogate him. There's only two of them, and one must remain to guard the camp, so it's almost guaranteed that just one will be coming. When he does, we get him, and you start your questioning. The cliff should prove useful to pressure him. Now, the tricky part is that the other watchman will start worrying if his partner doesn't come back after quite some time. So, as soon as we have the first guard, I'll go down there with airbending and stealthily neutralize him. It shouldn't be hard. Just the time to hide his unconscious body and I'll be right back. But remember, you can't use violence to force our guy to talk. If he screams, we'll have twenty other earthbenders to deal with by ourselves. Any questions?"

Skaï had spoken in a high pace, but being the strategist of her own group, Cielle had been able to follow it.

"What if the watchman start screaming anyway, despite my threats to throw him down the cliff?" asked the girl after having assimilated Skaï's plan.

"You run. Return to where the Dragon Fighters are standing by and prepare them for battle."

"And if you're still down there?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry. You saw what I could do when we first met."

Cielle laughed lightly. "Do you mean when that rock hit you right in the stomach, or when Zan Ji punched you?"

"So his name is Zan Ji," contented to reply Skaï, smiling at the teasing. "Anyway, are you ready?"

After Cielle nodded, the Avatar kicked the earth under him, creating a hole where they could both fit. The firebender girl put her dragon mask on and jumped into the stash, followed by Skaï who, just before closing the hole, raised his arm and launched two very small flares with firebending. Then they waited.

Soon later, they heard the sound of rock cracking and sliding, coming closer and closer as an earthbender climbed his way up by lifting the ground along the cliff side. Then it stopped, and they heard footsteps. Hesitant at first, they began to move faster as the earthbender probably started thinking about a false alarm. When he came right above them, Skaï made a sweep move with his arms, causing the hole to open and the watchman to fall inside. Then, with a surprising agility, Cielle restrained the earthbender whilst covering his mouth. Only a moment later, the man was completely tied up in a solid rope and his mouth was gagged with a thick handkerchief.

Continuing with his plan, the Avatar headed to the void.

"Good luck," whispered Cielle just before Skaï leaped off the cliff.

During his fall, he looked for the remaining watchman and used little air pushes to place himself just above him. Then, with great agility, he landed softly just behind the guard, using airbending to cushion himself, which created a small wind gust. Alerted, the earthbender turned back, but the Skaï had followed his movement and managed to stay behind him. When the earthbender turned back again, the Avatar hit him with a swift and powerful strike of the side of his hand to his neck. The man instantly passed out and fell into Skaï's arms. The boy then made a hole similar to the one he hid with Cielle, put the body in it and closed it, leaving small holes so that the unconscious man could breathe. Then, quick and discreet, he returned to the cliff side and began its ascension by jumping from rock to rock, propelling himself with airbending each time he leaped. When he arrived at the top, the captured earthbender was lay down at the edge of the cliff and Cielle, somehow without her mask, had a foot on him, threatening to make him roll into the void.

"How is it going?" asked Skaï.

"You didn't take long. Is there anything you're not good at?" answered the girl.

"Cielle, how is it going?" insisted the Avatar, ignoring her remark.

"All good. That coward gave me my answers as soon as I got him near the cliff's edge. It was almost too easy."

"Be glad it was. Now come on. We need to get out of there before the guy I knocked out wakes up," said Skaï while starting to head back already. However, when he realized she wasn't following him, he looked back and saw her still in the same position with a conflicted look on her face.

"Cielle, what are you doing? Hurry up," he pressed her.

When she slowly turned her head to look back at him, he knew what would happen.

"CIELLE NO!"

Too late. With a little kick, she had pushed the tied man who had rolled and fell off the cliff.

"Damn it!" shouted Skaï, running off to where the man fell. With an air outburst, he leaped in direction of the ground underneath. To gain speed, he put his arms behind him and generated four fire thrusters at the end of each of his limbs. At last, he caught up with the earthbender just a few meters before he would have crashed on the hard and dusty ground. To stop their fall without the use of his arms, occupied by the enemy he was trying to save, he inhaled a large quantity of air, and exhaled it violently just before touching the ground, with enough power to break their fall at the last second. His fight with the Dragon Fighters had taught him well.

Taking time to realize that he was still alive, Skaï lay down on his back and stared at the dark sky of the night while taking heavy breathes. Beside him, his near-death-experience comrade had passed out during their fall, utterly terrified.

The Avatar's relief, however, didn't last long. When he raised himself up, about twenty angry looking earthbenders were surrounding him.

"I'm really beginning to regret saving you, you know?" said Skaï ironically at the fainted out man. "Makes me wonder if you guys really are the bad guys in this story. Oops."

Without warnings, the earthbenders had started to attack, raising rocks by kicking the ground and throwing them at Skaï with their fists. Not having any time to riposte, the latter dodged as much as he could, pirouetting, spinning and twirling between the boulders, but there was too many of them. One hit him on the back, another on the right leg before he could stand back up and a last one on the back of his head knocked him down on the ground. At first, there was only silence, then he heard screaming. He had managed to get back on his knees to try to see what was going on when he saw red lights flashing in the darkness of the moonless night. All around him, firebenders were attacking the earthbenders visibly taken by surprise. In the distance, he could heard Zan Ji shouting orders and calling formations. The Dragon Fighters had come to help him. Swept by the intensity of his allies, Skaï got back on his feet and quickly found his way to the rear of the battlefield, where Cielle was giving Zan Ji instructions.

"Why did you save him?" aggressively asked the girl loud enough to cover the battle sounds as soon as Skaï reached her.

"Why did you did this?" replied the Avatar in an even angrier and louder tone.

"Because I could! You have no idea what those rats are capable of!" shouted Cielle with tears to her eyes.

"You had what you wanted!"

"So what? Did you expect me to just let these bastards continue to wreak havoc at every new village they pass by? Someone needs to stop them, and if an overthinking, deductive freak and elements master won't do it, then I will!"

"I wasn't going to let them continue! But killing them off isn't the way! Earlier, I said to you that there was things I regretted for which I became stronger. This is one of those things. Don't do the same mistake."

Suddenly, Zan Ji, who had directed the Dragon Fighters without his leader's help during her heated chat, interrupted them.

"Cielle, they're retreating. What should we do?"

Both she and Skaï stared at each other in the eyes for a while, as if they were debating without the use of words, like they knew exactly how the other felt. Then she suddenly lowered her eyes.

"Call them back..."

The big man complied and the Dragon Fighters, accompanied by the Avatar, began to head back to their forest.

Almost a day of rest later, during the evening, Skaï and Cielle were sitting together at a campfire, discussing what would happen next. Molly had find her master and friend back and was busy eating fishes in the heat of the fire.

"This raven hawk will bring my message directly to a friend of mine," said Skaï by sending the said animal with a red scroll attached to its paw. "He's the leader of a skilled sword masters group that specialize in capturing outlaws. The Golden Eaters are as well as captured with him in charge. See? I always have a plan."

"What are you going to do now?" asked Cielle.

"I'll head east. I heard a large group of earthbenders were building some sort of big wall. It worries the Sun Warriors and the Moon's Children think they are building a new type of earthbending weapon. In any case, it could escalate pretty quickly if nothing is done."

"Can I come with you?"

"What?" replied Skaï, genuinely surprised by the sudden request.

"The info I got says that what I'm looking for is at 'the Great Wall'. It seems like your destination fits with mine, and you got a flying beast to get you there."

"Her name's Molly," said Skaï severely.

"And beside, we made a pretty good team last night you and I, didn't we?"

"Yes, until you kick a man off a cliff."

"Alright, alright. I'm really sorry. I got emotional and lost control. It won't ever happen again, I promise. So what do you say?"

"What about the Dragon Fighters?" asked Skaï, starting to yield to the girl.

"I think that Zan Ji proved last night that he is more than capable of leading them for a while. They're in good hands."

The Avatar, abdicating, sighed. "Fine. Welcome aboard, Cielle the Dragon Mask."

Somewhere, in a dark cavern dug into mountains, a small man kneeled before his master.

"My Lord," said the servant in a scared voice whilst presenting a red scroll with his head bowed. "We intercepted this message, My Lord. The signature, My Lord."

A man raised from his throne and took the scroll. After reading it, he burst in a sinister laughter that resonated throughout all of the tortuous cavities constituting his kingdom.

"He is back," said a deep and imperious voice.

" _The Avatar_ is back."


End file.
